Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

[Lorenzar]

Hey guys !

Like many others, my Gibson guitars got PCB electronics inside and therefore quick connect pickups.


For the first 2 guitars like that (1 LP and 1 SG), my luthier bypassed the system by soldering on the pots the Slash set for the LP and the Seth Lover/Hybrid 59 Custom into the SG.


For the third one, another SG, it's also bypassed currently with an SH1/SH5 combo soldered directly on the pot.


However, I'm still uncertain what type of pickups/applications belong to this specific guitar and I'm actually entertaining the idea to take advantage of the Quick Connect thing for easy and fast pickup swap.


That guitar got the 5 pin version. The 490R/498T I've got coming from the other SG is the old Quick Connect version, the 2 pin.


Now those connectors are Molex Picoblade I believe.


Do you know if it would work to plug those 2 conductors version into a 5 pin plug ? If yes, how ? (the colour code might be different, I have 1 green and 1 black, probably ground this one, on the 2 pin version, when Hot is red on the 4 conductors Gibson pickups I believe.


To adapt any Seymour Duncan pickups to this system, I guess I would have just to make the translation between Gibson and SD colour code and plug them into the Molex picoblade.


Here is pictures of both version of the Quick Connect :

2 pins (old one) :

http://www.ginomusica.it/images/products/Gibson_Pickup_57_Classic_Quick_Connect_01.jpg


5 pins (more recent one) :

http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt284/ThroBak/MolexPhoto.jpg


By the way I've noticed on brand new Gibson Quick Connect pickups (only a few models available, DF, classic 57, Angus and BB pro I believe), they do provide an adapter to go from the 5 pin version to the old 2 pin version, but they're not doing the opposite thing I believe.


Please, don't reply with "get rid of the PCB and go traditional and use an iron"....we're on the same boat, at first I saw it as a pain in the ass when I wanted to change pickups and settle. Now that I have one particular guitar that I'd like to change the sound easily from time to time, for this one, I'd like to be quick connect, just like it would be a Liberator.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

Doesn't look like it would work to me for 2 reasons: because the green and black are separated by a white wire on the 5-pin. So you'd have to redo the 5-pin to get the black and green to line up the same to plug in the 2-pin. Even then, the 2-pin housing would not seat on a 5-pin because there is a channel for each pin and the 2-pin housing ends on each side where the 5-pin is designed for another pin on each side. The shape doesn't match.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

Personally, I'd cut off the 2 pin and wire in a 5 pin. I have connectors and housings.

I did this for a while on my Tribute LP, connectorizing with the 5 pin connectors and swapping in and out several different sets of pickups. Honestly, it probably takes more time to install the connectors than it does to just de-solder and solder the pickups. If it's one of the boards with push pulls for coil splitiing, I'd probably keep the connectors as that may be faster. Otherwise, out it comes ... I just pulled mine out a couple weeks back. "get rid of the PCB and go traditional and use an iron" ... Yeah, I know that you stated that didn't want to read that reply, but there it is anyway.

 

[Lorenzar]

Re: Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

Personally, I'd cut off the 2 pin and wire in a 5 pin. I have connectors and housings.

I did this for a while on my Tribute LP, connectorizing with the 5 pin connectors and swapping in and out several different sets of pickups. Honestly, it probably takes more time to install the connectors than it does to just de-solder and solder the pickups. If it's one of the boards with push pulls for coil splitiing, I'd probably keep the connectors as that may be faster. Otherwise, out it comes ... I just pulled mine out a couple weeks back. "get rid of the PCB and go traditional and use an iron" ... Yeah, I know that you stated that didn't want to read that reply, but there it is anyway.

Oh thay's what I meant. I wanted to know if it was possible to take the 498T with 2 pin, cut it, and connect it to a 5 pin one.

But by doing so, is there any specific order to place the wiring? It would leave 3 spots empty.

You're saying it actually takes more time than doing soldering. Is it such a pain to plug the wires into a 5 pin molex connector ?

If so, obviously there will be no point. Rather go with Liberator for the same kind of purpose ?

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

"Is it such a pain to plug the wires into a 5 pin molex connector ?"

No, it's a pain to crimp those little Molex 8100 connectors on to the pickup wires.

I connectorized one vintage braid pickup set. If I recall, you just need to connect two pins, hot and shield. I think the shield and ground are just tied together on the board (yes, that would leave 3 positions empty). I think I just soldered a single wire to the braided shield (so I could crimp it to the molex pin connector), but I may have jumpered the ground and shield to tie them together in the connector (which would leave 2 positions empty). Unfortunately, there is no way that I can check now because I sold the board. But it wouldn't be hard to figure out.

So, you have 5 positions. Hot is on one outside position, shield is on the other outside position and ground may be tied together with shield (again, cant remember but pretty sure it is) otherwise it occupies the position next to shield (which, on a vintage braid pickup, just means you would have to connect shield to both those positions ... again, I think they are tied together so I don't think you do). The other two positions just tie together but go nowhere on a basic Gibson board that doesn't have coil splitting ... just as they would if you were wiring a 4 conductor pickup without splitting the coils and just connecting those two wires together and insulating them. The Gibson PCB doesn't care if the wires are connected there or not.

Look at your Throback picture link to see which "outside" positions correspond to hot and shield/ground. The connectors only plug in one way.

 

[stratguy23]

Re: Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

Keeping in mind the point of the Quick Connect system - which to me is the "quick" part - I'd suggest simply buying the 5-pin versions of the 490R and 498T, which are readily available used on eBay and Reverb. Then sell the 2-pin versions and maybe even cut off the 2-pin connector so that they essentially become normal versions of the pickups, i.e., more sellable.

If you want to work SD pickups into the Quick Connect system, then, yes, you're in the land of translating color codes and whatnot. But I feel that Gibson has enough pickups with the 5-pin connector to keep you busy swapping those in and out without worrying about other manufacturers. If you truly want sky's-the-limit, all-brands-are-fair-game, then the SD Liberator is the way to go.

The Liberator is an awesome idea, but I found it fiddly dealing with the mini screwdriver and tweezers and color codes. If you don't mind that aspect, then by all means, go for it, as it's a great way to learn about pickups.

 

[SawDusty]

Re: Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

If you want to work SD pickups into the Quick Connect system,

I recently acquired a 2016 Les Paul faded (I'm hoping for a 59 spec except with basic black primitive finish, but so far looks like modern tone controls). I bought this because I'm a new DougAndPatShow follower of PAF tonality.

I was somewhat surprised with the PCB and connectors. Being an old dog, my initial strategy was to discard the guts, shield and rewire the way I know how. And ultimately that might be the outcome, but if it's not too expensive I'd like to play with the PCB tech.

I'd like to blueprint the PCB. I really don't like the black box "keep your hands out" no schematic approach (and some traces are hidden on the opposite side of the board). My initial measurements don't match the Gibson spec. Both neck and bridge screw coils are supposed to be "S" up but my bridge is "N" up, and there does not seem to be any symmetry in the wires going into the neck and bridge connector points. This guitar just has a traditional 2v2t layout. This guitar does have a noticeable buzz problem if a compressor is in the signal path. And others posting on You Tube have a similar problem. So I want to dig deep and I might need to rewire a connector.

Can anyone provide links for where to obtain the connectors and tech for how to use them. If I need to get an expensive crimping tool then that might spoil my experiment. Thanks for any help with the connector tech.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lorenzar]

Re: Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

Seems I totally underestimate the crimping part here !


To me Gibson biggest ****-up here is not the PCB and quick connect system in itself, it's more about only selling 4 pickup models (classic 57, BB pro, Angus, Dirty Finger) with quick connect and each one with only 1 finish available.


There's actually a demand for those. I live in France which is a way smaller market than the US for instance, and when I put the Slash into the Les Paul Classic and put the Classic 57 Quick Connect (zebra finish, which doesn't exist brand new on their own) for sale, it took only a couple of days to sell them.

Same thing with the Dirty Fingers I had in my SG 70's tribute.



Of course you can find some quick connect pickups on the aftermarket.....but you gotta be very patient as there's not much (at least in my part of the world).


Maybe the Liberator is what I'm looking for.

How does this one work when you're putting a single conductor pickup in ? You just have to screw the Hot wire in the right spot and put the ground on the "grey" spot ?


In other words, can you use other stuffs than 4 conductors pickups (like humbucker sized P90, Slash, Seth Lover) with liberator easily and mix 1 single conductor for neck and 4 conductor for bridge for exemple ?

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

I recently acquired a 2016 Les Paul faded (I'm hoping for a 59 spec except with basic black primitive finish, but so far looks like modern tone controls). I bought this because I'm a new DougAndPatShow follower of PAF tonality.

I was somewhat surprised with the PCB and connectors. Being an old dog, my initial strategy was to discard the guts, shield and rewire the way I know how. And ultimately that might be the outcome, but if it's not too expensive I'd like to play with the PCB tech.

I'd like to blueprint the PCB. I really don't like the black box "keep your hands out" no schematic approach (and some traces are hidden on the opposite side of the board). My initial measurements don't match the Gibson spec. Both neck and bridge screw coils are supposed to be "S" up but my bridge is "N" up, and there does not seem to be any symmetry in the wires going into the neck and bridge connector points. This guitar just has a traditional 2v2t layout. This guitar does have a noticeable buzz problem if a compressor is in the signal path. And others posting on You Tube have a similar problem. So I want to dig deep and I might need to rewire a connector.

Can anyone provide links for where to obtain the connectors and tech for how to use them. If I need to get an expensive crimping tool then that might spoil my experiment. Thanks for any help with the connector tech.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you want to do it "right"? Those individual connectors/terminals are tiny. They are designed to be crimped with a proprietary tool which is several hundred dollars to buy. However, there are multi-crimp type tools available that will do a good job. The 20 - 30 dollar range will probably get you a decent one. It's actually 2 crimps per terminal, one for the bare wire and one to hold the insulation. I believe it's a 1.2mm crimp. You can try small needle nose pliers ... I wouldn't. You could also solder (I wouldn't do that either) but don't allow any solder to run down into the hollow pin.

At any rate, the individual terminals (little metal pins) for the 5 position Gibson connectors are Molex #50079-8100. The 5 position housing is Molex #51021-0500. Larger electronics suppliers should have them. Mouser Electronics carries them for sure.

Have fun.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

With the Liberator, you can screw the hot into a terminal, and solder the ground to a pad on the back (that is how I did 2 conductor humbuckers). With 4 conductor ones, you just use the terminals.

 

[Lorenzar]

Re: Adapting a 2 pin Gibson Quick Connect into a 5 pin one

With the Liberator, you can screw the hot into a terminal, and solder the ground to a pad on the back (that is how I did 2 conductor humbuckers). With 4 conductor ones, you just use the terminals.

Ok but same thing as the quick connect, if you have to solder 1 thing with 2 conductors, it becomes not so fast and easy.

So to keep it simple with Liberator, you rather use 4 conductors only right ?